


Snakes

by send_methemoon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Family, Horror, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23864533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/send_methemoon/pseuds/send_methemoon
Summary: Harry and Ginny deal (badly) with their fear of snakes. Oneshot. T rated for horror.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Kudos: 8





	Snakes

**Author's Note:**

> My poor traumatised protagonists. I love explorations of how the kids' adventures affected them, as you can probably tell if you've read my other works. Enjoy.
> 
> EDIT Nov 2020: These are really old fics that I wrote before I knew about *gesturely vaguely at everything*. I hope you enjoy this despite everything JKR continues to put this fandom through. Trans rights! xo
> 
> \- Pan x

Prompt: And again, the voice was not his own.

* * *

For years, Harry avoided snakes like the plague. Somewhere between the basilisk in his second year and Nagini in his ultimate one, he'd developed an abiding fear that surpassed even Ron's arachnophobia.

Sometimes, his dreams were plagued by the serpentesque Fiendfyre that destroyed the Room of Requirement ( _temporarily_ destroyed, I might add: James had found it within a week of the Sorting Ceremony, much to his father's chagrin.) On worse nights, Harry's brain dredged up the nightmare that was Nagini animating Bathilda Bagshot's corpse. Those memories were the most trouble. Every time, he would converse with the snake, and every time, the voice was not his own. A quick glance in the mirror would reveal Voldemort's face on Harry's scalp, much in the same fashion as Quirrell, unicorn blood dripping from both their mouths.

Neither of the Potter parents slept much on those nights.

When Albus and Lily begged to go to the zoo, they'd both refused, before delegating the task to Ron and George via Patronus. (This led to a surprise visit to see Uncle Charlie and his dragons in Bulgaria; it was a surprise because Harry and Ginny had no idea they'd left the country.) The youngsters eventually puzzled out their parents' fear of snakes and took to leaving little slithering plastic toys around the house. They stopped after Grandma Molly stepped angrily out of the fireplace and dragged them by the ears up to the master bedroom, where they tearfully apologised to their equally tearful parents.

Many a year passed without snake-related incident, until Harry took Lily to the Magical Menagerie. Harry had eventually given in to Hermione's nagging and was looking for an owl to replace Pig. He'd become rather distracted with a snowy white owl in the window of Eeylops, so it took him a moment to recognise the whisperings of Parseltongue behind him. He turned and found his youngest comfortably conversing with a very old boa constrictor.

The snake nodded to him, and Harry's heart stopped.


End file.
